In the world of video surveillance, frame rates and resolution have a direct impact on bandwidth consumption. The more frames per second and the higher the resolution required by physical security personnel, the greater the bandwidth needed to send the video images. Also, the more activity you have in the "scene," the more data will be created. The first step is to determine how many frames per second and how high you really need the resolution to be to achieve specific surveillance objectives.

Take a high school scenario as an example. When students are between classes, hallway activity is much higher than when class is in session. During class breaks, school administrators want cameras to operate at a good resolution and high frame rate to capture enough detail to defuse fights and prevent vandalism. Conversely, they could accept throttling down the resolution and frame rate at night when there are no evening activities on the calendar.

Fortunately for network administrators, a network video camera is an intelligent device that can be programmed to change frame rates and resolution to provide the amount of critical security video needed without monopolizing network bandwidth. And, even with stepping down performance during off-peak times, security directors and facilities managers will still receive better images than they're used to with analog technology.

Video archiving options can also impact bandwidth consumption. If storage space is limited but compliance issues necessitate longer retention, many users opt for network cameras that support more advanced compression technologies, such as . If bandwidth is at a premium during certain hours, you could deploy network cameras equipped with SD cards to store the video until it can be transmitted to a during off-peak hours when network traffic is lower.